An eight-year-old Afghan girl was killed when a bag of explosives given to her by Taliban insurgents exploded as she approached a police outpost in southern Afghanistan, on Sunday.

An eight-year-old Afghan girl was killed when a bag of explosives given to her by Taliban insurgents exploded as she approached a police outpost in southern Afghanistan, on Sunday.

"The insurgents handed over a bag with a homemade bomb to the girl and asked her to take it to police forces," the ministry of interior said in a statement.

"As the girl was getting close to the police, it exploded and killed her." There have been occasional cases of insurgents using women bombers - or more commonly of fighters dressing as women - but the use of children had been almost unheard of until recently.